Unwritten Rules
by Saissa
Summary: If your team is going to have rules. then it's best to make sure that everyone knows those rules up front, instead of learning them the hard way. These are Team McGee's Unwritten Rules. This is an one shot set in the Two Roads Diverged AU.


**Authors Notes**

_This is a sequel to my AU called Two Roads Diverged. _

_It takes place immediately after Chapter 6 in that AU. _

_Disclaimer - NCIS does not belong to me. All characters and settings belong to Donald Bellisario_

_The original Character of Peter Carson is MINE_

* * *

**Unwritten Rules**

At 0800 hours one morning, the day after Timothy McGee had been made Team Leader, he and his new team members all met together for the first time in the bullpen. Timothy had allowed himself to sleep in an extra half an hour and was still in the office by 0730.

Dorneget and Wilson, being probies, were unsure of how to behave. They had heard the stories of Gibbs's team, and the stories of the long hours, and the headslaps and the pranks that DiNozzo had constantly played. They had both even been on Gibbs's team for a short time. Since two of their new team leaders were both Gibb proteges, Dorneget and Wilson was resigned to being treated in the exact same manner.

Tim collected his team members promptly at 0800, along with his new SFA, Ziva David, and led them all upstairs to the conference room.

Indicating for them to find a seat and sit down, Tim grabbed a chair, placed it at the front of the room by the white board, and sat down. He looked at his newest team members in silence. Dorneget held his gaze but blushed while doing so. Wilson held his gaze with no trouble at all.

"Good. As you both know, I am Timothy McGee and I have been assigned to be the new team leader for this team. Agent Ziva David is my senior field agent. You two, are both junior agents, but Ziva and I have seen a lot of potential in you. We chose you and we want to develop the four of us into a united and cohesive team.

"Before I go any further, do you two know each other?" The probies shook their heads. Tim waved his hand and pointed as he spoke.

"Sorry, my fault. Ned Dorneget is our profiler, and part time forensic specialist. Dwayne Wilson will be the teams weapons expert, by dint of being a former marine. I am the computer geek, and Ziva fills in where ever she is needed. She has a lot of international contacts that do come in handy.

"Now you have probably heard a lot of scary stories about Agent Gibbs and how he handled his team. While Ziva and I learnt a lot working with him, my style of leadership will be considerably different to his.

"Gibbs had his own set of rules, and most of the time we were expected to keep them. I found his rules to be very black and white and not particularly flexible. So I am currently developing a set of new rules that we will use for this team. So far I have thirteen, but we can easily add to them, or adjust them, as needed.

"If anyone has any questions at any time, please wave your hand. We have the use of this room until 1200 hours. So we have four hours to get to know each other. Any questions, so far?"

Tim looked at his two probies and at Ziva. They all shook their heads.

"Alright then. Rule number one. And this is a major one. **No headslapping at ANY TIME.** If Ziva or I see either of you headslapping, or even attempting to headslap, each other or anyone else - be it agent or civilian - you will be off the team instantly. The same rule applies to both Ziva and myself as well."

Tim looked around at his team, and was pleased to find smiles on both of the probies faces. He continued.

"Don't worry about remembering all of these. I will have them printed out for you to read and remember. Rule number two. Teasing, joking and light bantering is OK. **But noone disparages, bullies, pranks or hazes anyone else on this team or in this agency**. If Ziva or I see or hear any hazing, bullying or cruel pranks going on, you will get one warning to STOP doing that. If we see it a second time, then you will be off the team - instantly. You get ONE warning, one chance only, to shape up or you will be off the team.

Tim glanced at the probies again. By now both young men had big wide smiles on their faces.

"What's so funny?" he asked. "You were not looking quite this happy when we first came in here."

Ned spoke up. "That's because I thought you were going to be another Gibbs copy and that I would be treated the same way you were treated by Gibbs, especially when I make mistakes and screw up."

Tim turned to Wilson with his eyebrow raised to find that young man nodding his head in agreement.

Tim smiled. "Now you know what I learnt from Gibbs. How NOT to be a leader. These rules will be our rules for our team. They are not Gibbs' rules for our team, although there are one or two of his rules that we can use or adapt.

"Continuing. Rule number three. **It's ok to say you're sorry as long as you mean it**. I always thought that accepting responsibility for your own errors and apologising, was actually a sign of strength, not a sign of weakness.

"Rule number four. **Don't forget to mind your Ps and Qs**. There is no need to be rude, so please be polite and say please and thank you.

"Rule number five. We are all adults here. **So let's all act like adults**. We are not in any kind of competition. And I do NOT play favourites."

Tim frowned at Ziva while speaking. Ziva giggled.

"And yes, Ziva, I do mean you." Looking back at Ned and Dwayne, he explained that rule. "Ziva and Tony were notorious for always competing against each other to see who could report to Gibbs first with whatever item of information they were looking for." Tim grinned. "I don't want you guys to start competing against each other for my attention. I do plan on treating everyone equally.

"Moving on. Rule number six. **Actions speak louder than words**. So please be sure that your actions match your words. If you agree, or promise to do something, then make sure you do it.

"Rule number seven. **Don't kiss and tell**. I do not want to hear gossip on my team. Gossip is not helpful. Neither are fake or false rumours. Do not start up any fake rumours either.

"Rule number eight. This is one of Gibb's rule we will be borrowing. **Never assume, Always ask**. You know what they say. If you don't ask, you can make an ASS out of U and ME.

"Rule number nine. **If it's not your property or your concern, then stay out of it**. That way you won't be told that it is none of your business. This includes staying out of desks, bags, clothes and anything else that does not belong to you. I hated Tony always going through my desk and constantly invading my privacy. No matter how many times I told him to stop, he kept on doing it.

"Rule number ten goes along with rule number nine, which is, **NO means NO, so stop asking**. If someone says no then that is the end of the matter. Tony was constantly badgering me to tell him all my secrets no matter how many times I said NO. So No really does mean no on this team, understood?"

Tim looked at his team members and found them all nodding. "Good. I'm sorry if these sound depressing, but we are almost done, and I find that it is better to know what to expect up front, instead of having to work out what the unwritten rules are later on."

Tim took a big breath and continued.

"Rule number eleven. **We keep civilised hours. From 0800 to 1800 hours Monday through Friday**, except for when we are on call. At the moment, there are two teams, but the director hopes to have a third team here by the weekend, so we can expect to be on call every third weekend.

"As with any work place, please be punctual. If you are going to be late, please call either myself or Ziva and explain what is happening. Even if the traffic is slow and backed up, we would still like to know. If you are late, you will have to make up the time at lunch or after the work day ends. Lunch is one hour - usually from 1200 to 1300 hours. And yes we will be giving you our cell phone numbers. If you have an appointment, please request leave as much as possible in advance, in order to be able to attend it.

"Rule number twelve. This one is adapted from Gibbs. His rule number twelve was never date a co-worker. Ours will be - **If you wish to date a co-worker** - on or off this team or anyone else here at HQ - **that's fine, you can**. **But you must keep the private stuff OFF the job. **This means, no personal phone calls during work time and keep the personal contacts to lunch breaks and after work.

"Finally, Rule number thirteen. We are all partners on this team. We will all get to work with each other on things like stakeouts and raids. Some stakeouts can be quite boring, and there is temptation to read a book, listen to music or play a game on the ipad. The rule is - **Always, back up your partner and never ever switch off your radios or microphones until your shift has officially ended or you have been told you can turn them off. **We do not want to leave any teammate in a position where he cannot call for help if he needs it.

"Ok. That's it. Those are the team rules for now. Does anyone have any questions, any ideas to add or to improve those rules I've mentioned? I won't bite. These are for our safety, so I need you guys to know that you will feel safe under these rules as well."

Ned opened his mouth. "Thank you so much for giving us these rules up front. Now I know exactly what to expect and I will be much less likely to screw up. I also like the fact that you will be treating us like adults. I hate to say this, but I used to consider some people on Gibbs's team to be acting like children - especially Abby and Tony." Ned dropped his head in embarrassment.

"You are not the only one to think that about those two, Ned. Anyway, Tony and Gibbs have been suspended. I seriously doubt that they will be back, and Abby has been remanded into federal custody for assaulting a federal agent in front of the director yesterday. Speaking of which, I hope you are aware that it is a federal felony to strike or hit a fellow federal agent without good reason, and no matter which agency it is. Which is why headslapping is never a good idea. You should have been told that in FLETC. Abby never went to FLETC. She clearly seems to have never read the NCIS employee handbook either." Tim mused.

"Dwayne, You are very quiet. Are these rules acceptable to you?" asked Ziva.

Dwayne smiled. "Oh yes, I have no problems with them. Like Ned, I do appreciate the heads up about those unwritten rules that often get the newbies tripped up. I do have one question, and that is, what do we call you? Do we need to be formal and call you Agent McGee and Agent David or can we call you, Tim and Ziva?"

"Tim and Ziva will be fine. We are all adults, and we are all equal. I dont plan on standing on any formality although we do still need to respect the chain of command. You only need to introduce yourselves as Agents when speaking to civilians and to other alphabet agencies." Tim responded.

"If Abby is now in prison, then who will be running the lab?" Ned asked.

"Oh yes. The new forensic expert is Peter Carson. We should go down and meet him. I was told that he used to work at the Metro PD, but has always wanted to work with a federal agency. We can do that later." Tim replied. "Speaking of Abby, I do need to mention the Dress Code. Please do NOT come to work dressed up like Goth or Vampire or Star Trek, or any other weird genre, except possibly on Halloween and only if Director Vance gives permission. Business casual is the dress code, so please keep to that, thank you."

"Now at the risk of seeming to be immature, I have an idea for a small ice breaker game. Something that we can use to get to know each other a little better. This won't take long but it might be fun.

It's called Lie Detector. We all need pen and paper. I want you to write down 3 things about yourself, not deeply personal things, but things you don't mind us knowing about. But one of those things has to be a lie. It can either be a total complete fabrication (but it still has to be believable), or it can be partially true and partially a lie. Once we are done, we all have to guess which one is the lie. Are we ready? We have 5 minutes. Go."

The team was quiet as they each did some thinking and scribbled down their responses on paper.

Tim

I am a well known and famous author

I graduated from both MIT, and John Hopkins University

My father is a Commander in the US Navy

Ziva

I was raised to be a Mossad assassin

I killed my own half brother

I grew up with 2 younger sisters

Ned

I studied forensic science and profiling because I really wanted to be like MacGyver

I also am a sci-fi enthusiast - especially Stargate, Star Trek and Star Wars

I play the piano

Dwayne

I have a black belt in Tae Kwon do and I also practise mixed martial arts as well

I was awarded a meritorious medal by President Bush at the White House

I play the piano

Tim and Ziva did not try and guess each other's lies since they already knew them. Since Ned had been at NCIS for longer than Dwayne, he ended up winning, but at least Dwayne got to know his new teammates a little. It turned out that neither of the new agents played the piano. Ned actually played Guitar and Dwayne played Drums. Tim's father was actually an Admiral and Ziva only had one younger sister. Dwayne thought that Tim being a famous author was his lie, until Tim showed him his picture on the publishers website. Dwayne also thought that Ziva killing her own half brother was her lie, but both she and Tim stated that it was true.

After this little game, Tim took the team down to the forensic laboratories and they were all introduced to the new forensic expert - Peter Carson. He had previously expressed an interest in working for NCIS to Director Vance, and so he was quickly interviewed and hired the day before, right after Abby Sciuto was charged with assault.

Carson was just on 6 feet tall - slightly shorter than McGee. He had black hair, brown eyes and a ready smile on his face. He was also wearing normal clothes - Jeans and shirt.

"My first visitors. Great. I was beginning to wonder if everyone had forgotten about me. I understand that my predecessor dressed like a Goth. Well as you can see, I'm not into anything that weird. I am just a normal person.

"I am married with one child. My wife is a paramedic and works for the EMT service. I used to work for the Metro PD, and had been thinking about switching to a federal agency for some time. I had previously put out some feelers to Director Vance, which is why I have been hired so quickly. Anyway I am very glad to be here and I look forward to working with you all."

Tim shook Peter's hand, welcoming him to NCIS, introduced his team members and the team then moved to the Autopsy Room. There they met the Medical Examiner Dr Donald Mallard, or Ducky as he was usually known to his friends, as well as the ME's assistant, Jimmy Palmer.

Since Timothy's last visit to this room the day before, had not ended well, Ducky first apologised to Timothy and promised that from now on, he would be less of a stickler for protocol and be much more concerned about everyone's health, should a similar situation ever arise again.

After fifteen minutes of visiting the Autopsy room and having his new agents be able to ask questions and get to know Jimmy Palmer and Dr Mallard, Tim eventually led his team down to the Legal office where they met the lawyers who wrote the search warrants and got the judges signatures. Finally they ended up back in the conference room, where Timothy sat his new team down, and proceeded to give them some last minute advice.

"Tomorrow, we will be going onto the MCRT roster as the third team. This means that the other two teams (whichever team Director Vance can rustle up from overseas and Agent Balboa's team) will be ahead of us in the roster. That is only because, as teams, they have more experience than we do. We will probably have cold cases to go over and try and get solved before we are assigned to an active case. Do NOT slam the cold cases. They are our bread and butter when the Navy decides to behave itself and we don't have any murders to deal with. We will also get an active case if more than three cases show up on the same day, which has also been known to happen.

"Eventually we will move up on the roster schedule. My plan is for this team to be back at the top of that schedule within 1 year. We must still do everything by the book. Yes, we all know that Gibbs' team had the highest crime solve rate, But Gibbs was constantly asking us to do the impossible, and he was always putting pressure on us, which is how we were able to maintain that highest crime solve rate. But we were also forced to cut corners and take short cuts in order to do it. I was never very comfortable with that behaviour.

"That kind of behaviour will no longer be accepted or tolerated. Not by Director Vance and not by me. Ziva and I will teach you how to work undercover, how to interrogate suspects, how to interpret clues, how to search databases online and how to dot your i's and cross yours t's in order to do everything legally and correctly. I promise you that Ziva and I will not put pressure on you, we won't ask you to do the impossible and if you do need help or suggestions, please ask us. We are not going to make you feel useless or stupid just because you have to ask for help.

"This afternoon, I will be taking you over to the shooting range and all four of us will be getting recertified on weapons. Otherwise we can take a break for lunch. I will see you back here at 1300 hours sharp."

After lunch Timothy's new team had their weapons recertification tests. Dwayne Wilson turned out to have been a sniper in the marines and he ended up with the highest score. Ziva had the second highest score, Timothy the third highest and Ned Dorneget had the lowest, but it was not by much.

Timothy was very pleased with how the team was coming together and after they had completed their weapons recertification, he released the team for the day and sent them home, saying, "Tomorrow, the real work will start. Get some rest now while you can."


End file.
